Arachin 6: Gentiles' Sacrifices

Gentiles were permitted to bring sacrifices to the Temple as sacrifices.  The rabbis discuss what should be done with those sacrifices.  Is it permitted for them to go toward b'deck ha'baayit, the upkeep of the Temple?

The Gemara teaches us a baraita about a gentile who pledged a gift for the Temple maintenance that was accepted.  Another baraita taught that the Gentile's gift was not accepted.  Rabbi Ila said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan that this is not difficult.  The first applies to the beginning and the latter to the end. Rabbi Asi said in the name of Rabbi Yochanan one should not accept from them even salt or water, although at the end one may not accept a thing that can be easily identified, but if they cannot be easily identified, they can be accepted.   

Rashi says that at the beginning refers to the time when the Second Temple was under construction.  The builders were not allowed to accept support from the Gentiles because their intentions were not trusted.  They may have planned to withhold payment, hoping that the Persian king might renege on the permission that he'd given allowing the instruction of the Temple.  Alternatively, they might have come to rely on those gifts, leaving the Jewish community to lose its commitment.  After the Temple was built, those concerns no longer existed and so gifts from Gentiles were accepted.

Rabbeinu Gershom suggests that "even at the end" comes from the concern that a Gentile might ask for the gift be returned after the fact.  Others believe that it might be an embarrassment to the Jewish community that the Temple was built by non-Jews or that Gentiles might boast about their contributions to the Temple.